Scottish Executive

Career Service

Mrs Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what special advice services are available for young people with disabilities who are considering further education on leaving school.

Ms Wendy Alexander: In response to the Beattie Committee Report, career service companies were asked to develop and co-ordinate multi-agency Inclusiveness projects. The development of key worker support for some of Scotland's most disadvantaged and vulnerable young people between the ages of 16 to 24, including those with disabilities, plays a vital role in these projects.

  Currently, young people with disabilities have access to informed and impartial careers advice to help them decide on the options available in employment, education or training through careers service companies. From April 2002, Careers Scotland will offer an accessible, forward-looking and responsive service to people of all ages and abilities.

  The four Scottish ACCESS Centres, based at Aberdeen, Motherwell and Stevenson Colleges and the University of Dundee, offer independent assessment and training facilities in the use of enabling information technologies for students with additional support needs. A new National Co-ordinating Centre housed at Stevenson College will support staff in all colleges to better meet the needs of students with disabilities.

  Additionally, SKILL, the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities in Scotland, provides individual support and promotes opportunities to empower young people and adults with any kind of disability to realise their potential in further and higher education, training and employment.

Civil Service

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil service jobs it plans to relocate to North Ayrshire as part of its commitment to decentralising government departments and what the timescale is for any such relocation.

Angus MacKay: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-19681 on 19 November. No specific areas of Scotland are targeted, and none are ruled out when office relocations are considered. North Ayrshire will continue to be considered as a potential relocation site.

Civil Service

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its plans for the dispersal of civil service jobs will extend to all areas of the country.

Angus MacKay: Around 34,000 staff are employed in the range of public services covered by the Scottish Executive’s relocation policy; around two-thirds of these are already located outwith Edinburgh.

  Two objectives govern relocation decisions. First, the location of organisations should promote efficiency and effectiveness. Second, subject to the first objective, the work of the Scottish Executive and related bodies should be close to the communities they serve. When relocation is being considered, no parts of the country are targeted, nor are any ruled out. Each relocation decision is viewed on its own merits and a decision is taken about where each organisation should be situated, based on the relevant factors in each case.

Civil Service

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in relation to any timetable it has for the dispersal of civil service jobs.

Angus MacKay: We have made good progress. The Education and Lifelong Learning Department is now wholly located in Glasgow, the Food Standards Agency has been set up in Aberdeen and the Public Guardian’s Office has been set up in Falkirk. Following my announcement of 1 December last year on the forward programme, the First Minister announced on 6 March that the National Office of the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and the offices of the Scottish Social Services Council will be located in Dundee. The commission’s regional office for the area will also be located in the Dundee HQ. Locations under consideration for the other five regional offices are Inverness, Aberdeen, Paisley, Hamilton/East Kilbride and East Lothian. I announced on 17 July that the Scottish Public Pensions Agency will be located in the Galashiels area.

  In line with my statement of 1 December last year, the following organisations are in the programme of relocation reviews - the Health Education Board for Scotland, the Common Services Agency of the National Health Service in Scotland, sportscotland and the Scottish Arts Council and Registers of Scotland.

  Rolling the relocation programme forward, I can announce today that we will examine relocation options for Scottish Natural Heritage which has a forthcoming lease break in a property in Edinburgh. A decision on this will be made by mid 2002.

  Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education has been restructured as an Executive Agency, and its locations will be examined with a decision by mid 2003.

  These organisations will be examined on a case-by-case basis, with the aim of finding the best location for each organisation, within the context of the relocation policy. The position of staff will be a consideration, as will the costs and benefits of moves. As part of the process, the organisations concerned will continue to consider how most efficiently to conduct their work in line with the most up to date practices and use of technology. There will be opportunities for representations to be made about different locations and full consultation with the organisations concerned and with the relevant trade unions.

  We have also been examining where to locate the headquarters of the new body, Scottish Water, in the light of our relocation policy. We expect to take a decision on this shortly.

Civil Service

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the criteria are for the selection of destinations for the relocation of civil service jobs.

Angus MacKay: Relocation decisions are based on a range of issues including costs, quality and efficiency of service, economic factors such as unemployment, availability and suitability of property and staff, transport issues, and the position of staff concerned. Further criteria to be taken into account will depend on the organisation itself and the nature of the work in question.

Civil Service

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether areas with above average levels of unemployment will be given priority in the dispersal of civil service jobs.

Angus MacKay: Local economic conditions, such as levels of unemployment, are included in the range of factors taken into account when relocation decisions are taken. No one factor has primacy over others; the relocation of each organisation is considered on its own merits.

Employment

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin & Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have been held with the Department of Trade and Industry on changes to Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment legislation as it effects the NHS in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: Employment law is a reserved matter. However, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is currently consulting widely on its proposals to change the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations. Both the Scottish Executive and NHSScotland employers have been given the opportunity to put their views to the DTI.

Employment

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in dealing with unemployment in North Ayrshire.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The unemployment rate in North Ayrshire has been reduced by 7.2% over the last year.

Employment

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what practical measures it will consider taking to attract employment to North Ayrshire.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive and local agencies are committed to securing sustainable employment opportunities for North Ayrshire. In recognition of the challenges facing the area, Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire has been awarded an additional £4.7 million over the past two years to implement their "Ayrshire Strategy for Jobs". In the past year, the creation of some 450 jobs in the area have been announced by companies which have worked closely with local and national agencies.

External Relations

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff and what resources it has available in Washington D.C for the promotion of Scottish interests both exclusively and as part of a wider brief.

Mr Jack McConnell: The full resources of the British Embassy in Washington D.C. are available to assist the Executive as well as other devolved administrations and the UK government as a whole, and within the Embassy, the Executive has a member of staff on assignment. In addition, Scottish Development International have an office in Virginia not far from Washington DC.

Foster Care

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to address any shortage in foster carers.

Nicol Stephen: Around 3,000 (27%) children looked after by local authorities are in foster care. Our experience of central Government recruitment initiatives in 1999 and 2000 is that regular local recruitment drives work better in attracting potential foster carers. We are also considering a Code of Practice which could help authorities with the recruitment and assessment of foster carers.

  Next year we will review both adoption and fostering legislation. The review will include consideration of how to encourage more people to adopt or foster vulnerable children.

Further Education

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17971 by Jackie Baillie on 1 October 2001, how the £0.5 million funding to boost college provision specifically for asylum seekers will be spent, broken down by individual colleges, over the current financial year and over future financial years.

Jackie Baillie: Allocations to individual colleges, for the current and future financial years, will be made by the Scottish Further Education Funding Council.

  The additional resources are intended to cover the cost of waiving course fees, providing essential books and assisting asylum seekers with the costs of travelling to college.

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider funding a national pool of salaried locums to alleviate any difficulties encountered by general practitioners in rural practices both in obtaining regular time off owing to on-call requirements and in securing locum cover.

Susan Deacon: While we do not fund a national pool of salaried locums, schemes within the general practitioners (GP) contract already provide resources to enable GPs in rural practices to obtain regular time off and training and to secure locum cover. First, the Associate GP scheme funds single-handed rural GPs to employ a half-time associate to provide the opportunity for regular time off and training. Second, isolated rural GPs qualify for extra locum payments from the Out of Hours Development Fund to relieve out of hours workloads. In addition, we are actively exploring further initiatives to help promote recruitment and retention of GPs in rural areas.

Genetically Modified Crops

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice or guidance it has provided to education authorities on how to deal with teaching materials concerning genetically modified crops.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive has not provided any specific guidance to education authorities on how to deal with teaching materials concerning genetically modified crops.

Genetically Modified Crops

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what authorisation it has given to companies involved with genetically modified (GM) crops or pro-GM organisations regarding the distribution of information on GM crops to schools.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive has not given authorisation to any such companies regarding the distribution of information on GM crops to schools.

Genetically Modified Crops

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre any material that it has authorised that can be distributed to schools on the use of genetically modified crops.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive has not authorised materials for distribution to schools on the use of genetically modified crops.

Health

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin & Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to reduce short-term contracts and promote family-friendly policies in the NHS.

Susan Deacon: The Health Department issued guidance in 1999 to NHSScotland advising that temporary contracts should only be used in exceptional and defined circumstances. The Scottish Partnership Forum, which represents all NHS Scotland staff group has established a Guideline Development Group which is currently preparing further guidance and this is expected to issue next summer. The department has been monitoring the use of temporary contracts since 1999 on a regular basis.

  Our National Health committed NHSScotland to meeting or exceeding the best practice guidance on family-friendly policies which I launched to the service in January this year. Progress on implementing the policy will be made through the Staff Governance Standard and associated staff survey.

Higher Still

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanism it has put in place to carry out the functions previously undertaken by the Higher Still Development Unit.

Mr Jack McConnell: The work of the former Higher Still Development Unit is being continued by Learning and Teaching Scotland who have a key role in supporting secondary education. Support for National Qualifications continues to be provided through the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Scottish Further Education Unit.

Hospitals

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in increasing the number of NHS intensive care unit beds.

Susan Deacon: For the period 1996 to 2000, the average number of funded general adult intensive care beds in Scotland each year was:

  


1996 
  

112 
  



1997 
  

115.5 
  



1998 
  

121.5 
  



1999 
  

125 
  



2000 
  

132.5 
  



  Information for 2001 will become available in May 2002.

  This progressive increase in intensive care bed numbers reflects the priority given by NHS Scotland to critical care. Critical care bed numbers are increased further during winter to respond to peak demand. During winter 2000-01, up to 160 beds were available on this basis.

  The Scottish Critical Care beds bureau provides online access for all Scottish intensive care units (ICU) to information about ICU beds. This enables different hospitals to share ICU resources should the need arise.

Landfill

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce a ban on landfill of (a) sorted combustible waste and (b) organic waste.

Rhona Brankin: We plan to make regulations that will include a ban on the landfill of flammable and highly flammable waste as part of the implementation of the EC Landfill Directive. The draft regulations will be issued for public consultation shortly. The Executive also intends to introduce a system of landfill permits that will limit the amount of biodegradable municipal waste that may be landfilled.

Landfill

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of composting bins issued by local authorities, whether it has issued any guidelines on benchmark figures for the amount of compost produced per bin that should form the basis of statistical calculations.

Rhona Brankin: No. However, various studies have been carried out to investigate the amount of waste diverted from the waste collection service as a result of home composting. Several local authorities used their share of the Executive’s £3 million grant for recycling and composting in 2000-01 to encourage home composting. The Executive has asked authorities to assess the impact of the projects supported by the grant on the amount of waste diverted from landfill.

Livestock

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current position is regarding the proposed reopening of the cattle incinerator in Carntyne, Glasgow.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) served prohibition and enforcement notices on Sacone Environmental Ltd on 9 October 2001 in response to complaints about smoke and odour nuisance from the incinerator in Carntyne. The prohibition notice withdrew SEPA’s authorisation for the incinerator until further notice. The enforcement notice requires the operator to take remedial action at the plant.

Livestock

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and other public bodies have taken responsible and appropriate action with regard to the application for a licence to operate a cattle incinerator in Carntyne, Glasgow.

Rhona Brankin: The authorisation of industrial processes under Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). However, in this case, I am aware that Sacone Environmental Ltd, the new owner of the Carntyne incinerator, applied to SEPA in June 2001 to have the original authorisation transferred to it. In response, SEPA issued a variation notice requiring the company to demonstrate that improvements had been made to enable the plant to comply with the authorisation’s conditions. SEPA granted a limited recommissioning period to enable the plant to demonstrate that the improvements had been made.

  SEPA served prohibition and enforcement notices on Sacone Environmental Ltd on 9 October following complaints about smoke and odour from the incinerator, as explained in the answer to question S1W-18733.

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14063 by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 March 2001, what plans it now has for the care of mentally disordered offenders.

Malcolm Chisholm: Our strategy remains for the care and other relevant agencies to work together to provide safe care, accommodation and support for mentally disordered offenders.

  The deadline for receipt of joint area progress reports on local implementation of the strategy has been extended to November this year at the request of the agencies.

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people have suffered from mental health problems since May 1999, broken down by health board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not available centrally.

Nuclear Power

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice or guidance it has issued to civil emergency planners and local authorities regarding potential terrorist threats to nuclear material stored or used at Sellafield, Torness, Hunterston, Dounreay, Faslane, Chapelcross, Rosyth and Coulport.

Iain Gray: Security and safety precautions at nuclear sites are kept under regular review and in the light of the recent terrorist attacks in the USA all relevant precautions are presently being scrutinised. It is not our policy to disclose details of security measures taken at civil nuclear sites.

Nuclear Power

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice or guidance it has issued to civil emergency planners and local authorities regarding the length of warning times which should be given to enable the evacuation of the general public from affected areas in the event of a terrorist attack on Sellafied or Dounreay.

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has calculated what length of warning people in Dumfries and Galloway would require to enable a safe public evacuation in the event of a terrorist attack on the nuclear installation at Sellafied.

Iain Gray: The licensed operators of all nuclear sites are required to prepare an emergency plan. These plans and those of other key agencies, such as the police and the local authorities, cover a range of scenarios. In the event of a terrorist attack on either Sellafield or Dounreay, resulting in an off-site emission, a decision would be made by the Incident Commander on whether to evacuate the general public in the immediate vacinity or to advise them to shelter indoors until a range of factors including the extent of any release and the prevailing weather was established.

Nursing and Midwifery

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is a signatory to the Munich Declaration on nurses and midwives.

Susan Deacon: I confirm that all Ministers of Health of member states in the European Region of the World Health Organization (WHO), including the United Kingdom, are signatories to the Munich Declaration: Nurses and Midwives – a Force for Health , which was issued by the WHO Regional Office for Europe on 17 June 2000 following the Second WHO Ministerial Conference on Nursing and Midwifery in Europe.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide substantive answers to questions S1W-17798, S1W-17799, S1W-17802 and S1W-18076.

Sarah Boyack: The answers to these questions were given on the following dates:

  S1W-17798 – 6 November 2001

  S1W-17799 – 6 November 2001

  S1W-17802 – 1 October 2001

  S1W-18076 – 6 November 2001.

Police

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of comments made by Chief Superintendent David Johnstone of Strathclyde Police in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald on 2 November 2001 that, in a context of limited resources, the force had failed the people of Ardrossan, whether additional resources will be made available to U Division of Strathclyde Police in order to ensure that crime and disorder in the town is tackled.

Iain Gray: The provision of resources and deployment of police officers within a force area is of course an operational matter for chief constables and divisional commanders who will take account of local issues and circumstances.

  Over the past six months, the number of incidents in the Ardrossan North area reported to the police has fallen by almost 50%. However, in light of local concerns, I understand that significant additional patrols have recently been deployed to the area and that the situation there is being closely monitored.

  As regards resources, the Scottish Executive provides police grant that covers 51% of eligible police expenditure up to a cash limit. It is for police authorities to set the budgets for individual forces. The resources provided to Strathclyde Joint Police Board enabled the setting of a budget of £370.9 million for 2001-02, an increase of nearly £19 million over 2000-01. Police numbers in Strathclyde rose again in 2001, continuing the upward trend of the previous two years, and at the end of September 2001 stood at 7,298.

Prescription Charges

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the requirements are for a medical condition to qualify for an exemption from prescription charges.

Susan Deacon: There is no process for the admission of further conditions to the list of charge-exempt medical conditions.

Public Appointments

David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list for each year since the declaration of political affiliation became mandatory as part of the system of appointments to public bodies in Scotland (a) the total number of appointments made, (b) the number of appointees who declared a political affiliation and (c) the number of these appointees affiliated to each of the political parties in Scotland.

Angus MacKay: Political activity declarations were introduced by the Commissioner for Public Appointments in 1996. The information they contain is monitored by the commissioner to ensure that all appointments are made on merit after a fair, open and transparent process. All appointments made under the terms and conditions of Commissioner's Code are subject to independent scrutiny. Independent Assessors are required to play a full and active part in the appointments process to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly. Ministers can only appoint individuals to posts on the recommendation of appointment panels whose membership must include at least one Independent Assessor.

  The following table details the requested information. However, the statistical data has not been collated in a way which enables it to be split into individual years. The table does, however, detail all appointments made up to 31 March 2001.

  As the table shows, the vast majority of appointees are not politically active. Only 137 out of a total of 1,015 (13.5%) undertook political activities in the five-year period prior to their appointment.

  


Period 


No. of New Appointments Made 


Total of New Appointees Declaring Political 
  Activity 


New Appointees Affiliation to Political 
  Parties 




CON 


LAB 


LD 


SNP 


Other 




1/7/96 - 31/3/97 
  

137 
  

12 
  

4 
  

7 
  

0 
  

1 
  

0 
  



1/4/97 - 31/3/98 
  

204 
  

20 
  

5 
  

14 
  

0 
  

1 
  

0 
  



1/4/98 - 30/9/98 
  

82 
  

11 
  

1 
  

8 
  

0 
  

1 
  

1 
  



1/10/98 - 31/12/98 
  

47 
  

10 
  

2 
  

5 
  

0 
  

0 
  

3 
  



1/1/99 - 31/12/99 
  

365 
  

56 
  

9 
  

29 
  

6 
  

4 
  

8 
  



1/1/00 - 30/9/00 
  

147 
  

21 
  

2 
  

16 
  

2 
  

1 
  

0 
  



1/10/00 - 31/3/01 
  

33 
  

7 
  

0 
  

5 
  

1 
  

0 
  

1 
  



Totals 
  

1,015 
  

137 
  

23 
  

84 
  

9 
  

8 
  

13

Residential Care

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many respite care places have been provided since May 1999, broken down by (a) health board area and (b) local authority area.

Malcolm Chisholm: The following tables contain information on respite admissions:

  Respite Admissions - year to 31 March 2000

  


Local Authority 


Residential Care Homes 


Private Nursing Homes1,2,3,4



Total 




Aberdeen City5


1,000 
  

210 
  

1,210 
  



Aberdeenshire5


1,385 
  

235 
  

1,620 
  



Angus 
  

453 
  

38 
  

491 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

672 
  

42 
  

714 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

52 
  

23 
  

75 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

664 
  

130 
  

794 
  



Dundee City 
  

1,102 
  

276 
  

1,378 
  



East Ayrshire5


454 
  

169 
  

623 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

127 
  

125 
  

252 
  



East Lothian5


213 
  

568 
  

781 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

10 
  

116 
  

126 
  



Edinburgh, City of5


4,025 
  

419 
  

4,444 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

177 
  

18 
  

195 
  



Falkirk 
  

302 
  

243 
  

545 
  



Fife 
  

3,070 
  

578 
  

3,648 
  



Glasgow City 
  

4,571 
  

656 
  

5,227 
  



Highland 
  

3,181 
  

374 
  

3,555 
  



Inverclyde 
  

1,145 
  

51 
  

1,196 
  



Midlothian5


838 
  

120 
  

958 
  



Moray5


564 
  

34 
  

598 
  



North Ayrshire5


500 
  

402 
  

902 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

2,902 
  

170 
  

3,072 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

302 
  




302 
  



Perth & Kinross5


955 
  

761 
  

1,716 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

532 
  

439 
  

971 
  



Scottish Borders5


264 
  

62 
  

326 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

437 
  




437 
  



South Ayrshire5


1,138 
  

133 
  

1,271 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

2,081 
  

522 
  

2,603 
  



Stirling 
  

714 
  

184 
  

898 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

747 
  

42 
  

789 
  



West Lothian5


407 
  

158 
  

565 
  



Scotland 
  

34,984 
  

7,298 
  

42,282 
  



  Source: ISD Scotland, ISD(34).

  HD: Social Work Statistics; R1 Return.

  Notes:

  1. Private nursing homes subject to the Nursing Homes Registration (Scotland) Act 1938 (as amended), or the Mental Health Act 1960/1984. It also includes a few "other" establishments, e.g. hospices registered under the Act.

  2. The figures shown are based on information supplied by nursing homes at the end of the financial year. It is understood from health boards that a small number of other nursing homes have not been able to provide the information requested. Data from these nursing homes (around 30 in total) and data from private hospitals also registered under the Acts, are not included in the table. For this reason caution should be used when interpreting the trends in the table. Any change in respite admissions could be due to non-submission of data in any year. Health boards with particular issues are noted in the table above.

  3. Patients admitted on a non-permanent basis to assist their normal carer.

  4. Health board area refers to that of the private nursing home and is not necessarily the normal health board area of residence of the patient receiving respite.

  5. Data for this health board are affected by incomplete returns across one or both years, as referred to in note 2 above.

  Respite Admissions - year to 31 March 2000

  



 



Non-Obstetric
Non-Psychiatric 


Mental Illness
Learning Disability Hospital 


Admissions to long stay facilities 
  in Geriatric Medicine10,11 


 




Health Board 


Residential Care Homes 


Private Nursing Homes1,2,3,4



Hospital Discharges6,7



Unit Admissions8,9 


 


Total 




Argyll & Clyde 
  

2,550 
  

570 
  

209 
  

583 
  

32 
  

3,944 
  



Ayrshire & Arran5


2,092 
  

704 
  

220 
  

1,085 
  

219 
  

4,320 
  



Borders 
  

264 
  

62 
  

141 
  

26 
  

67 
  

560 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

664 
  

130 
  

35 
  

610 
  

3 
  

1,442 
  



Fife 
  

3,070 
  

578 
  

54 
  

499 
  

5 
  

4,206 
  



Forth Valley 
  

1,068 
  

450 
  

173 
  

222 
  

172 
  

2,085 
  



Grampian5


2,949 
  

479 
  

333 
  

247 
  

4 
  

4,012 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

5,848 
  

950 
  

129 
  

120 
  

80 
  

7,127 
  



Highland 
  

3,181 
  

374 
  

408 
  

104 
  

36 
  

4,103 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

4,389 
  

643 
  

209 
  

336 
  

64 
  

5,641 
  



Lothian5


5,483 
  

1,265 
  

1,132 
  

432 
  

532 
  

8,844 
  



Orkney 
  

302 
  

- 
  

4 
  

1 
  

- 
  

307 
  



Shetland 
  

437 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

437 
  



Tayside 
  

2,510 
  

1,075 
  

223 
  

561 
  

11 
  

4,380 
  



Western Isles 
  

177 
  

18 
  

124 
  

- 
  

- 
  

319 
  



Scotland 
  

34,984 
  

7,298 
  

3,394 
  

4,826 
  

1,225 
  

51,727 
  



  Source: ISD Scotland: ISD(34); SMR01; SMR50.

  HD: Social Work Statistics; R1 Return.

  Notes:

  1. Private nursing homes subject to the Nursing Homes Registration (Scotland) Act 1938 (as amended), or the Mental Health Act 1960/1984. It also includes a few "other" establishments, e.g. hospices registered under the Act.

  2. The figures shown are based on information supplied by nursing homes at the end of the financial year. It is understood from health boards that a small number of other nursing homes have not been able to provide the information requested. Data from these nursing homes (around 30 in total) and data from private hospitals also registered under the Acts, are not included in the table. For this reason caution should be used when interpreting the trends in the table. Any change in respite admissions could be due to non-submission of data in any year. Health boards with particular issues are noted in the table above.

  3. Patients admitted on a non-permanent basis to assist their normal carer.

  4. Health board area refers to that of the private nursing home and is not necessarily the normal health board area of residence of the patient receiving respite.

  5. Data for this health board are affected by incomplete returns across one or both years, as referred to in note 2 above.

  6. Discharges from non-obstetric/non-psychiatric specialties in NHS hospitals in Scotland.

  7. Defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Volume 10, (ICD10) code Z75.5 (holiday relief care) recorded as a principal diagnosis.

  8. Discharges from mental illness hospitals, psychiatric units and learning disability hospitals in Scotland.

  9. Status on Admission defined as "Informal - holiday/respite".

  10. Discharges from long stay facilities in the specialty of Geriatric Medicine in NHS hospitals in Scotland.

  11. Defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Volume 10, (ICD10) code Z75.5 (holiday relief care) recorded as "Main Contributory Social Factor on Admission".

Roads

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that there is no repetition on the wider motorway network of the traffic gridlocks recently experienced by drivers on the M8.

Sarah Boyack: The trunk road maintenance contracts require the Operating Companies to carry out safety inspections of the trunk road network to ensure, as far as is reasonable, that incidents similar to those recently experienced on the M8 motorway causing severe traffic delays are kept to a minimum.

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish full details of the income and expenditure of the Scottish Qualifications Authority for the last two years.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is required to prepare accounts each year in accordance with section 16 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1996. SQA’s accounts for 1999-2000 were laid in Parliament on 21 June 2001 (SE/2001/130) and its accounts for 2000-01 will be laid shortly. The SQA makes its accounts freely available to the public after they have been laid in Parliament.

Social Work

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many social work assistants have been employed by each local authority in each of the last five years, and what financial and other support is available for social work assistants to enable them to gain appropriate qualifications.

Nicol Stephen: Figures on employment of social work assistants have only been collated in a consistent manner since 2000. In 2000, 799 whole time equivalent social work assistants were employed throughout Scotland.

  £2.2 million specific grant funding is awarded each year to local authorities to improve the quality of social work service provision of training for relevant staff. This would include social work assistants.

Social Work

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many posts for social workers specialising in childcare were vacant in each local authority in each of the last five years.

Nicol Stephen: Information on social work vacancies was collected for the first time in the October 2000 staffing census. These figures are provided in the following table.

  Staff of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Services, 2000

  Social Workers Specialising in Childcare1,2: Staff and Vacancies (Whole Time Equivalents)

  


Local Authority 


Total Staff (WTE) 


Vacancies (WTE) 




Aberdeen City 
  

106 
  

6 
  



Aberdeenshire3


90 
  

n/a 
  



Angus 
  

35 
  

2 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

3 
  

0 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

16 
  

2 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

43 
  

6 
  



Dundee City 
  

62 
  

0 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

32 
  

8 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

16 
  

1 
  



East Lothian 
  

29 
  

0 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

20 
  

2 
  



Edinburgh, City of3


199 
  

n/a 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

5 
  

0 
  



Falkirk 
  

55 
  

4 
  



Fife 
  

87 
  

0 
  



Glasgow City 
  

83 
  

6 
  



Highland 
  

51 
  

4 
  



Inverclyde 
  

46 
  

3 
  



Midlothian 
  

29 
  

3 
  



Moray 
  

40 
  

0 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

45 
  

1 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

80 
  

19 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

6 
  

0 
  



Perth & Kinross 
  

53 
  

8 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

26 
  

4 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

46 
  

0 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

3 
  

0 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

36 
  

2 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

95 
  

7 
  



Stirling3


36 
  

n/a 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

42 
  

9 
  



West Lothian 
  

66 
  

7 
  



Scotland 
  

1,577 
  

n/a 
  



  Notes:

  1. Includes Senior Social Workers and Main Grade Social Workers.

  2. Excludes generic social workers, who provide services to more than one client group.

  3. Information on vacancies was not available for Aberdeenshire, City of Edinburgh and Stirling Councils in 2000.

Sport

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all officially recognised sports and recreations.

Allan Wilson: Sports which are officially recognised by the home country Sports Councils are listed in the following table. There is no official list of recreations. Recreation is an activity that promotes the refreshment of health or spirits by relaxation and enjoyment. By its own definition, recreation is limitless.

  


Angling 
  

Mountaineering 
  



Archery 
  

Movement and Dance, Exercise and Fitness 
  



Football 
  

Netball 
  



Athletics 
  

Orienteering 
  



Badminton 
  

Parachuting 
  



Basketball 
  

Petanque 
  



Billiards and Snooker 
  

Polo 
  



Bowls 
  

Quoits 
  



Boxing 
  

Racketball 
  



Canoeing 
  

Rambling 
  



Cricket 
  

Real Tennis & Rackets 
  



Croquet 
  

Riding 
  



Curling 
  

Roller Hockey 
  



Cycling 
  

Roller Skating 
  



Fencing 
  

Rounders 
  



Aeromodel Flying 
  

Rowing 
  



Gaelic Football 
  

Rugby League 
  



Gliding 
  

Rugby Union 
  



Golf 
  

Sailing/Yachting 
  



Gymnastics 
  

Shinty 
  



Handball 
  

Shooting 
  



Hang/Paragliding 
  

Skating 
  



Highland Games 
  

Skiing 
  



Hockey 
  

Softball 
  



Horse Racing 
  

Sombo 
  



Hovering 
  

Squash 
  



Hurling 
  

Sub Aqua 
  



Ice Hockey 
  

Swimming, Diving, Water Polo & Synchronised Swimming 
  



Judo 
  

Table Tennis 
  



Ju Jitsu 
  

Taekwondo 
  



Karate 
  

Tang Soo Do 
  



Kendo 
  

Tenpin Bowling 
  



Korfball 
  

Trampolining 
  



Lacrosse 
  

Triathlon 
  



Lawn Tennis 
  

Tug of War 
  



Lifesaving 
  

Volleyball 
  



Luge 
  

Water Skiing 
  



Modern Pentathlon 
  

Weightlifting 
  



Motor Cycling 
  

Wrestling 
  



Motor Sports 
  

Yoga

Sport

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-18665 by Allan Wilson on 26 October 2001, what specific additional safety measures have been introduced through the British Boxing Board of Control following the Paul Ingles fight and how information on these measures will be disseminated.

Allan Wilson: As stated in my answer on 26 October, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) has jurisdiction over professional boxing in Great Britain. To obtain the requested information, I therefore suggest you contact either the BBBC direct or the two main promoters of boxing in Scotland (ie Alex Morrison at Morrison's Gym, 197 Swanston Street, Glasgow and Tommy Gilmour at the St Andrew’s Sporting Club, Holiday Inn Glasgow City, Bothwell Street, Glasgow).